Tests show Ariel Castro father of Cleveland girl born in captivity

The Ohio attorney general said on Friday that DNA tests showed Cleveland kidnapping and rape suspect Ariel Castro is the father of the six-year-old born while he allegedly held the girl's mother and two other women captive for nearly a decade.           

Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement that "forensic scientists worked throughout the night to confirm that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl born in captivity to one of the kidnapping victims."                              

He added that the tests also found Castro's DNA did not match any other Ohio cases, although the FBI is still checking the sample against national cases.
                   
Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against Ariel Castro as police charged that he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the belly.                     

The allegations were contained in a police report that also said another one of the women, Amanda Berry, was forced to give birth in a plastic kiddie pool.
                   
Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said Thursday his office will decide whether to bring aggravated murder charges punishable by death in connection with the pregnancies that were terminated by force.                           

Castro, a 52-year-old former school bus driver, is being held on $8 million bail under a suicide watch in jail, where he is charged with rape and kidnapping.
           
Among the chilling details in the police report:                

Berry, now 27, told officers that she was forced to give birth in a plastic pool in the house so it would be easier to clean up. Berry said she, her baby, now 6, and the two other rescued women had never been to a doctor during their captivity.                        

Michelle Knight, now 32, said her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved her for at least two weeks and "repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried." She also said Castro forced her to deliver Berry's baby under threat of death if the baby died. Knight said that when the newborn stopped breathing, she revived her through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.               

All three women said Castro chained them up in the basement but eventually let them live on the home's second floor. Each woman told a similar story about being abducted after accepting a ride from Castro.               

Castro was arrested Monday, when Berry broke out of his run-down house and called police while he was away. Police found the two other women inside. The women had vanished separately between 2002 and 2004, when they 14, 16 and 20.                    

Berry and former captive Gina DeJesus, 22, went home with relatives on Wednesday. Knight was reported in good condition at a Cleveland hospital.  
                  
The police report gave a detailed account of their escape, beginning with Berry's discovery that a door was unlocked, leaving only a bolted outer door between her and freedom.                           

Berry feared it was a test: She said Castro occasionally left a door unlocked to test them. But she called to neighbors on a porch for help and was able to get out.                    

Police then entered the house and found the other women, who threw themselves into the officers' arms.                    

Castro's two brothers, who were arrested with him but later cleared of involvement in the case, appeared in court on unrelated charges Thursday and were released.                     

Years before the women's abductions and abuse, Castro terrorized the mother of his children, beating her and locking her indoors, her relatives said in interviews Thursday with The Associated Press. 


AP